“No.” I replied. “If you look at a story in a book, you’ll notice that they very rarely indicate who has spoken.”

“Really?” He picked up a book, read a few sentences. “Oh yes, I see what you mean!”

“There you go. You have to learn to trust the reader; they’re cleverer than beginner writers give them credit for. The reader can recognise who’s speaking when people are taking turns in a conversation.”

Was £20 a week a good wage back in 1960? How much would Mr Darcy’s 10000 a year be in today’s money? The Bank’s Inflation Calculator shows how the cost of goods and services changes over time as prices change. You can check the effect of price changes over any period from 1750 to 2013.

Unlike search engines, which merely return documents, Wolfram Alpha tries to work out answers from questions. To get an idea of how Wolfram Alpha differs from Google, say, try asking them both how far away the moon is, then compare the answers.

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A first draft is about getting it written, not about getting it right. Don’t spend too much time on it

Think of an artist painting a picture – they get the basic outlines and then fill in the details later. That’s what a first draft should be – broad daubs of paint

Stories have a habit of hitting a wall as you write them. Don’t sit there sweating about how your hero will escape from the pit: just get on with writing the next part. A solution will occur to you eventually. It always does.

Don’t lose touch with your subconscious. If you can’t think of the right word, or phrase, or character, or description… miss it out! You can always add it in later.

Stephen King recommends finishing a first draft in a season (spring, summer…). Okay, that might not be possible for a part time writer, but even so, get it done as quickly as possible

Many writers find the first draft the painful part. The real pleasure of writing begins when you can take your time licking that first draft into shape…

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Writing in the First Person is harder than it looks: the narrator defines the sort of story you write. Compare the way the intelligent Katiniss Everdeen tells her story in The Hunger Games with that of the much less aware Riddley Walker in the novel of the same name.

There are very few stories written in the Second Person, something which makes those few attempted stand out and say something. Unfortunately, the thing they are usually saying is that the writer has just been on a course. Best avoided.

Stories written in the Third Person offer the most flexibility, and are the best choice for the beginner writer. Of these…

The Third Person subjective is the easiest: here you can describe individual characters’ thoughts and emotions from the inside.

Third Person objective is harder: here you describe the characters from the outside, you’re not privy to their thoughts – rather like watching a film.

Third Person omniscient is the easiest but seems very old fashioned and lacking in skill. Most importantly, Editors don’t like it!